Things of screws and delicate metals

1. Well I suppose it had to happen sometime, but the hard drive on my PowerBook said it’s last hurrah two days ago. I had noticed that my computer had been running slower and slower over the last few months, but though nothing of it since it was about time for a clean install anyway. Then it slowed to a total crawl. And then it stopped booting. Then, if it could get any worse, it started making a noise like what you get when you stick a pen in a moving fan blade. Which is usually a pretty bad sign.

2. Luckily, I managed to rescue all my files, thanks to a little calm (it seems the days of my breaking things that are already broken are over, which is just as well I suppose) and ingenuity, and a kick arse program. Of course, if I had lost my photos, the scream would echo worldwide. That, fortunately, is on a seperate drive.

3. This still put me in a bit of a dilemma — do I buy a new computer now, or repair this one? I don’t want to spend $3000 on a new PowerBook just yet, so close to MacWorld in January, but I will be buying one in the next couple of months so it’s not worth spending lots on this one. Which is when I discovered a brilliant site called PBFixit which gives you detailed instructions on how to take apart any Macintosh computer, accompanied by excellent photos. So a short trip to the local computer store for a new hard drive and an hour of mucking about and it’s like I have an all new computer.

4. So all’s well that ends well. And because you’ve all been very good boys and girls, you get a treat.

5. Enjoy :)

Wordpress 2.0…

1. …is out and powering this site now. Amongst other things it has a very nice new user interface and a proper post preview window. Go get it!

Merry Christmas!

1. May your horde be as good as mine :)

Game, Art… Whatever

1. I love Tycho.

2. I love that he intentionally uses big words when small ones would do, but makes it all OK by dropping in words like ‘clusterfuck’:

Every now and then you get a nice turn of phrase, but it’s so clear that the entire “conflict” isn’t over core issues but over a syntactical clusterfuck like the definition of art. Something tells me that Roger Ebert’s letter column isn’t going to get to the bottom of that one, but I have been called a cynic.

3. Read the rest here.

Sixteen Days in Indonesia, Part 3

(Click here if you have forgotten about missed Part 1 or Part 2)

(And, uhm, yeah, sorry it took so long.)

1. “Good Afternoon ladies and gentleman and welcome aboard Lion Air Flight JT0777 to Jakarta. We will be taking off shortly, please ensure your luggage is stowed and your seat belt is fastened… madam, please sit down, no, ma’am, please don’t get up — no! don’t open the overhead luggage…!”

2. I shit you not, some woman actually opened the overhead luggage hold as we were taxiing to the runway, and no doubt would be rummaging through her bag as we took off if cabin staff hadn’t intervened. Just as well we weren’t anywhere near them. An inglorious way to end a holiday by having to be medivaced home for head injuries caused by falling luggage!

(more…)

‘Don’t over-complicate riots’, says Howard

“I don’t think we should over-complicate this,” he said.

“Violence, thuggery, loutish behaviour, smashing peoples’ property, intimidating people - all of those things are breaches of the law and I don’t think the actions should be given some kind of special … status because they occur against the background of this or that.

“If we start treating this behaviour for what it is we will far more readily settle things down and get back to a situation we all want.”

1. How about the placards advocating hate groups? How about the “Fuck off Lebs” chants? If that isn’t race-based, what is? Are you talking this down because your policy of dividing the nation and seeding fear of refugees and islamic terrorists for short-term political gain is starting to backfire?

Sydney Race Riots

1. The violence continues…and it’s really getting out of hand.

2. Attacks have been reported in Cronulla, Brighton, Tempe, Rockdale, Lekemba, Punchbowl and Peakhurst, which poses a dilemma — of the three routes I could take to my parent’s place, I have to pass through at least one of those suburbs. And reports say they are massing on the main highways, which will also be the road I would have to use. On top of which I have friends that live in Rockdale, Cronulla and Peakhurst. I really hope this will all be over very, very soon.

God’s Country?

1. Let’s call a spade a spade.

2. I have avoided going to Cronulla Beach over the last few years, and yes, it was because there are groups of middle-eastern-looking young men behaving badly and ruining everyone’s fun. But let’s get a few things straight — it could have been groups of young Asian men, or groups of young White men, but guess what? It wasn’t! It was groups of Lebs from Bankstown coming along and fucking it up for everyone. Everyone else had some respect for other beach users, except for them. This isn’t racial profiling, or specific attacks against Muslim Australians (indeed, Lebanon has a 30% Christian population, and I don’t think anyone asked those idiots on Cronulla Beach whether they were religious) — this is anger over a bunch of anti-social dickheads that Shire locals have tolerated for too long.

3. But then this happens.

(more…)

More Apple speculation

1. Now I’m confused… Paul Murphy over at ZD Net argues that if we see an Apple laptop powered by Intel it would be an iBook, not a PowerBook. But then he argues that an Intel CPU is too expensive to put into an iBook on current pricing. He then suggests that Apple could use the low-power G5 or the Dual Core G4 next year, and release Intel powered machines in 2007.

2. Huh?

3. While there isn’t really any hard benchmark data, but the smart money would be on the Pentium-M being faster than a G4 chip. So, why would Apple make a cheap laptop faster than an expensive one? PowerBook sales would evaporate if the iBook was faster: those who want the power without the ‘Pro’ features would just save the cash and buy the iBook, and those who need the ‘Pro’ features would wait knowing Apple can’t be too far behind with an Intel PowerBook.

4. Apple knows this too, and you can see that by looking at their desktop line. Top of the heap is a Quad Core (2 Dual Core processors) PowerMac with the rest of the line being the same cutting edge Dual Core G5s, the iMac line has features unique to that line alone. Intel sure has processors that competes at that level, but it also has a bunch that can’t, so that rumor of an Intel Mac mini works well because they can ditch the ancient G4 without cannibalising sales of their other lines. The same can’t be said for Apple’s portable lines. Even the slowest of Pentium-M processors should be competitive with the G4, so Apple has to update from the top down.

5. (And even if the Intel processor is slower — which it can’t be, otherwise what’s the point? — the perception is the opposite, and you would have the same problem as if it was faster.)

6. Also, if the CPU is so much more expensive, wouldn’t it make more sense to put it in a machine that has a higher margin? Or at least a line that Apple could raise prices on? PowerBook prices have dropped significantly since I bought my first generation 12in PowerBook, but I am under no illusions that it will stay that way when a whole new PowerBook line is released. That said, Apple couldn’t raise prices too much, since it will be directly comparable to other laptops using the same processor.

7. The clever thing about Murphy’s column is that he could very well be right with regards to when MacTel laptops will be released (or rather that it won’t be next year), but it most certainly won’t be because of his reasons.

GEOS Interview, Day 3

1. I got in! I’m going to Japan!

2. *CAPER*